Public Opinion and the euro

It is essential to monitor the state of public opinion on the euro and understand the underlying factors which influence it. This helps to detect any information gap among EU citizens and to adapt communication messages and tools to their real needs.

The Commission's Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) regularly conducts opinion polls both in the euro-area countries and in the new EU Member States which are expected to adopt the euro.

The launch of the euro banknotes and coins on 1 January 2002 was preceded and followed by intensive public opinion monitoring. Polling started in 2000, and was carried out almost monthly in 2001 and the months immediately following the changeover, and has continued since, though at longer intervals. Since the end of 2002, the state of public opinion has been measured and assessed by the Commission at least once a year in the euro-area countries, and the results of these surveys, together with the 2000-2002 data, make it possible to see how euro-area citizens' views on their new currency have evolved over time.

Opinion polls have also been conducted by the Commission twice a year since 2004 in the countries which joined the EU since then and are preparing to adopt the euro. The frequency of the surveys can be stepped up in those countries which are close to adopting the euro or have just done so, such as Estonia and Latvia respectively. In these cases, the surveys may be more frequent and diversified.